Proper conservatism would mean protecting the environment, supporting gay rights and all rights as an extension of supporting the constitution over personal belief(i.e. religion), spending less across all categories and spending should be smarter, social growth can be at any rate as it's supported by personal rights/freedom, but economic growth is strongest when slower and measured. What we see now is basically zero percent conservatism. To be a republican today is to basically be an opportunist pos. Proper conservatives and proper liberals are actually very close to each other and for the most part it comes down to money, arguing mostly about how much to spend on something, but socially, they're near identical because the constitution demands it.